Liberty Wines adds Rafael Palacios to portfolio

Liberty Wines has been appointed the UK agent for Rafael Palacios, who is known for making some of Spain’s highest quality white wines in Valdeorras.

Rafael Palacios at one of his Godello plots in the Val do Bibei in Valdeorras

The youngest of nine children from the Palacios Remondo winemaking family in Rioja, Rafael has been making his own wines since 2004.

After studying oenology in Bordeaux in the early ‘90s, while working for the Mouiex family, in 1994 Palacios worked a vintage in Australia, where he developed a taste for white wines.

Returning to Rioja in 1994 to work for his family winery, three years later he launched a game-changing white Rioja called Placet, offering a new take on the old wine style.

In 2004 he branched out, launching his eponymous wine project in Valdeorras in Galicia, with a focus on Godello from the rugged and remote Val do Bibei subzone.

He has divided his land into 32 parcels of Godello across 19.5 hectares of vines. Most are planted on steep granitic slopes with old terraces buttressed by rocks.

His top white, Sorte o Soro, hailing from a half-hectare biodynamically farmed plot of 40-year-old vines, is considered among the best whites in Spain. The wine (pictured) spends seven months in 500l French oak barrels,

“We are excited to be working with Rafael Palacios, who has succeeded in bringing Godello to the world’s attention over the past 16 years,” said David Gleave MW, managing director of Liberty Wines.

“Strengthening our Spanish portfolio has been a priority for us over the last couple of years, so Rafa’s move to join us is an important step forward. It is now our job to build upon the excellent job done with his wines by Fields, Morris & Verdin,” he added.

Rafael’s wines were taken on by Fields, Morris & Verdin in June 2018, which also looks after the wines made by his brother, Alvaro Palacios.